Sunday, December 09, 2012

[Three quick ones before hitting the road.] Is Iceland an exception when it comes to bailing out banks?:

State Costs of the 2008 Icelandic Financial Collapse, by Thorolfur
Matthiasson & Sigrun Davidsdottir: Outside Iceland it is widely believed
that the collapse of the Icelandic financial sector in October 2008 came at
no expense to Icelandic taxpayers. This contrasts with taxpayers in Ireland,
the UK, Greece, Spain and Portugal, who have recapitalized their banking
sectors. However, based on a recent estimate of public funds put into the
financial sector since the collapse, we calculate that the cost accruing to
the Icelandic State amounts to 20 to 25% of GDP – which means that Iceland
cannot be taken as an example of a country that did not bail out any banks.
This is of some interest since Iceland is now a popular comparison for
economists studying crisis-stricken European countries.

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'State Costs of the 2008 Icelandic Financial Collapse'

[Three quick ones before hitting the road.] Is Iceland an exception when it comes to bailing out banks?:

State Costs of the 2008 Icelandic Financial Collapse, by Thorolfur
Matthiasson & Sigrun Davidsdottir: Outside Iceland it is widely believed
that the collapse of the Icelandic financial sector in October 2008 came at
no expense to Icelandic taxpayers. This contrasts with taxpayers in Ireland,
the UK, Greece, Spain and Portugal, who have recapitalized their banking
sectors. However, based on a recent estimate of public funds put into the
financial sector since the collapse, we calculate that the cost accruing to
the Icelandic State amounts to 20 to 25% of GDP – which means that Iceland
cannot be taken as an example of a country that did not bail out any banks.
This is of some interest since Iceland is now a popular comparison for
economists studying crisis-stricken European countries.